liance
of wit nor in her quickness of apprehension.

VII

Despite the solemnity which attaches to Shakespeare's philosophic
reflections, he is at heart an optimist and a humorist. He combines
with his serious thought a thorough joy in life, an irremovable
preference for the bright over the dismal side of things. The creator
of Falstaff and Mercutio, of Beatrice and the Princess in _Love's
Labour's Lost_, could hardly fail to set store by that gaiety of
spirit which is the antidote to unreasoning discontent, and keeps
society in good savour.

Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous,
There shall be no more cakes and ale?

is the voice of Shakespeare as well as of Sir Toby Belch. The
dramatist was at one with Rosalind, his offspring, when she told
Jaques:--

I had rather have a fool to make me merry,
Than experience to make me sad.

The same sanguine optimistic temper constantly strikes a more
impressive note.

There is some soul of goodness in things evil,
Would men observingly distil it out,

is a comprehensive maxim, which sounds as if it came straight from
Shakespeare's lips. This battle-cry of invincible optimism is uttered
in the play by Shakespeare's favourite hero, Henry V. It is hard to
quarrel with the inference that these words convey the ultimate
verdict of the dramatist on human affairs.

VIII

SHAKESPEARE AND PATRIOTISM[32]

[Footnote 32: This paper was first printed in the _Cornhill Magazine_,
May 1901.]

His noble negligences teach
What others' toils despair to reach.

I

Patriotism is a natural instinct closely allied to the domestic
affections. Its normal activity is as essential as theirs to the
health of society. But, in a greater degree than other instincts, the
patriotic impulse works with perilous irregularity unless it be
controlled by the moral sense and the intellect.

Every student of history and politics is aware how readily the
patriotic instinct, if uncontrolled by morality and reason, comes into
conflict with both. Freed of moral restraint it is prone to engender a
peculiarly noxious brand of spurious sentiment--the patriotism of
false pretence. Bombastic masquerade of the genuine impulse is not
uncommon among place-hunters in Parliament and popularity-hunters in
constituencies, and the honest instinct is thereby brought into
disrepute. Dr Johnson was thinking solely of the frauds and moral
degradation which have been shelt